Laparoscopic surgery, also known as “minimally invasive” surgery, is a method for performing surgery via one or more small incisions typically on the order of about 1 cm across. It is known that laparoscopic surgery offers many benefits to patients and the healthcare system including, for example, less pain, shorter hospital stay, quicker return to normal activity and to work, and better cosmetic results. These benefits make the health care system more efficient; thus laparoscopic techniques are in high demand.
Laparoscopic surgery has revolutionized patient care in the last 20 years. In many cases, minimally invasive approaches have become the standard care, even for specialties such as gynecology, urology, kidney transplant, and foregut surgery. In 2010, there were 2.8 million minimally invasive procedures performed in the United States alone, representing an increase of about 2.6% from 2009. However, these procedures include only about 38% of colectomies and 25% hysterectomies being performed in a minimally invasive fashion. Furthermore, these procedures do not include the usage of the current inventive device in procedures such as adrenalectomy, gastrectomy, donor and pathological nephrectomies, prostates, and liver resections. Therefore, the number of minimally invasive procedures is expected to continue to rise as technology expands.
Furthermore, with the advent of ‘robotic’ surgery more and more techniques are being created. In the past, many surgeons abstained from laparoscopic or robotic techniques because it was felt to not offer an advantage if solid organs required extraction. For example, if a surgeon was doing a colon resection, it was not uncommon for surgeons to perform the operation in an ‘open’ fashion or quickly convert from laparoscopic to open knowing that they were going to require an open incision to extract the solid organ in question.
As more intra-abdominal surgery is being offered with minimally invasive techniques, surgeons need to have the ability to extract a specimen, for example a solid organ, either whole or morcellated. To facilitate the removal of larger solid organs such as, for example, kidneys, adrenals, the uterus, colon, small bowel, gallbladder, and tumors, a surgeon has to create a sufficiently wide extraction site on the peritoneal surface of the abdominal wall. However, in order to preserve the integrity of the minimally invasive operation, surgeons strive to remove the specimen through the smallest possible skin incision. Therefore, a problem may arise when a specimen needing to be removed is larger than any of the laparoscopic incisions.
Currently, there is no reliable ‘sharp’ option available for lengthening a laparoscopic incision. For example, if an organ requires extraction, the skin is cut with a scalpel; however, the fascia, muscle, and peritoneum are all bluntly ‘ripped’ and spread apart by the surgeon's fingers or a blunt instrument to allow for extraction of the organ. This blunt method, while adequate, is imprecise, takes increased time to execute, and leads to a considerable amount of tissue trauma, causing increased postoperative pain. In addition, this blunt method leads to the instant loss of the pneumoperitoneum, which is gas normally sealed within the body cavity. Such loss of the pneumoperitoneum may result in a massive expulsion of carbon dioxide gas and aerosolized body fluid when the organ is removed under pressure of the pneumoperitoneum. Such expulsion may expose the surgeons and operating room technologists to an infectious disease hazard and therefore is a safety issue.
Although not widely used, a “fascia scalpel” manufactured by LiNA Medical in Glostrup, Denmark, is designed to be inserted next to a specimen bag which is being pulled up against the abdominal wall. This creates problems as the bag will tend to surround and engulf the LiNA scalpel, and the specimen bag can be cut which can lead to loss of integrity of the bag, loss of containment of the specimen, and potential dissemination of contaminated fluid, for example, an infected appendix, or cancerous cells, for example, a malignant tumor. Thus, the LiNA scalpel is designed for cutting more superficially on the abdominal wall or the more dorsal part of the skin and is not designed for the more ventral part of the abdominal wall. The LiNA fascia scalpel is designed for use with smaller solid organs like the appendix and/or gallbladder. The LiNA fascia scalpel is not designed to be placed through a trocar, nor does the LiNA scalpel have a blunt distal end to protect tissue from unintended damage. Additionally, the LiNA fascia scalpel does not enable surgeons to use the instrument under visualization nor does it allow surgeons to work without releasing the pneumoperitoneum.
Further issues exist with using a traditional surgical scalpel to enlarge a laparoscopic incision. For example, when using a regular surgical scalpel attached to a standard or longer handle, it is possible that the scalpel blade may be dislodged from the handle by the abdominal wall tissue and/or the rubber housing of existing trocars if the scalpel is introduced inside the trocar. In addition, standard cutting with a scalpel is not protected and surrounding tissues can be unintentionally injured. Further, a traditional surgical scalpel or a LiNA fascia scalpel can slip and fall freely into the abdomen creating an enterotomy (bowel injury) and thus have potentially devastating consequences.
A need exists for a laparoscopic scalpel that can precisely enlarge a laparoscopic incision without compromising the pneumoperitoneum. Such a device would safely, quickly, and efficiently incise the peritoneum, fascia, and abdominal wall muscles to extract solid organs or introduce intraluminal staplers or other devices. Such a device would allow for extraction of larger specimens, which allows for wider applicability across multiple specialties including, but not limited to urology, gynecology, general surgery, bariatric surgery, endocrine surgery, colo-rectal surgery, liver surgery, and thoracoscopic surgery of the chest.